History
History was the perception of time relative to past events, or in the case of time travel, events that hadn't happened yet but were meant to, composing "future history." (TV: Snakedance [+]Loading...["Snakedance (TV story)"]) As defined by the The Book of the War:
History has (or is) a structure, but has no tangible existence: it's a method of perceiving time, of recording it, remembering it and attempting to predict it.
The Web of Time, described as the "hitching-post of chronology," was created by Rassilon as a meta-structure imposed on history. (AUDIO: Neverland [+]Loading...["Neverland (audio story)"]) This process was known as the anchoring of the thread and essentially "built" what could be called "history". (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"])
An individual who wrote about history was known as a historian. (TV: Snakedance [+]Loading...["Snakedance (TV story)"]) The Silence, if not all of the Church during the Siege of Trenzalore, referred to themselves as "the Sentinels of History" since they were dedicated to preventing the Eleventh Doctor from destroying the universe by releasing the Time Lords, (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"], The Time of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"]) who until the Time War had set themselves up as the "Guardians of History." (COMIC: The Flood [+]Loading...["The Flood (comic story)"])
History could be changed via anomalies like the Time Field, (TV: Flesh and Stone [+]Loading...["Flesh and Stone (TV story)"]) and events could diverge from causal nexuses onto alternate timelines. As time changed both histories could be remembered by the people who experienced them, resulting in the memory of parallel time streams. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"], AUDIO: Prisoners of Fate [+]Loading...["Prisoners of Fate (audio story)"]) Individuals who survived the negation of their timeline could also remember their version of history, and would not know the real history. (AUDIO: Colditz [+]Loading...["Colditz (audio story)"]) Parallel universes had different histories from each other. (PROSE: The Face of the Enemy [+]Loading...["The Face of the Enemy (novel)"])
If something was erased from history, its possibility was still imprinted on the structure of the universe. (PROSE: Falls the Shadow [+]Loading...["Falls the Shadow (novel)"])
Despite being involved in many events and always showing up when trouble happened, the Seventh Doctor claimed that history happened even when he wasn't around, which Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart said was accidental. (PROSE: Transit [+]Loading...["Transit (novel)"]) After learning from the Fourth Doctor that he was only remembered as a war criminal, Magnus Greel quipped that "it [was] the winning side that [wrote] history". (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang [+]Loading...["The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)"]) Later, while running through the streets of Paris to stop Scaroth from erasing mankind, the Fourth Doctor called out "Is no one interested in history!?" (TV: City of Death [+]Loading...["City of Death (TV story)"])
In 2006, upon being given a video of a wedding in 1987 which contained frames wherein the Ninth Doctor and Rose appeared, Mickey wrote on Who is Doctor Who?, speculating if the Doctor was "meddling with how history should be". (PROSE: Essay Competition [+]Loading...["Essay Competition (short story)"])
By 2424, buildings in Manchester had been named after "legendary figures" in the city's history. (COMIC: Mancopolis (part one) [+]Loading...{"part":"One","1":"Mancopolis (comic story)"})
History as a subject[[edit] | edit source]
History was also a subject taught in schools.
John Smith was a history teacher at Farringham School for Boys. (TV: Human Nature [+]Loading...["Human Nature (TV story)"]/The Family of Blood [+]Loading...["The Family of Blood (TV story)"])
John Smith was a history teacher at Hulton College. (PROSE: Human Nature [+]Loading...["Human Nature (novel)"])
Barbara Wright (TV: An Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"]) and Miss Shah (TV: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart [+]Loading...["Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart (TV story)"]) were history teachers at Coal Hill School.
Evelyn Smythe was a history teacher at Sheffield Hallam University. (AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy [+]Loading...["The Marian Conspiracy (audio story)"])
Mr Parsons was a history teacher at Deffry Vale High School. (TV: School Reunion [+]Loading...["School Reunion (TV story)"])
Mrs Pittman (TV: Eye of the Gorgon [+]Loading...["Eye of the Gorgon (TV story)"]) and Mr Bradbury (AUDIO: The Thirteenth Stone [+]Loading...["The Thirteenth Stone (audio story)",""]) were history teachers at Park Vale Comprehensive School.
